Biggest Airport Plan Could Be Shelved

Saying that there will never be a “mega-airport” at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, Supervisors Tom Wilson and William G. Steiner crafted an agreement Friday that is designed to kill the largest of four airport plans.

“I’m very confident,” Wilson said. “I think that this should be a 5-0 [vote] on Tuesday.”

Since he is retiring in January, Steiner was concerned that his successor might vote in favor of a large airport plan. The board is scheduled to vote for a final airport plan in fall 1999.

For the last three weeks, the two supervisors had been discussing a proposal to take the plan for an airport that could handle 33 million passengers a year--called Alternative D--off the table.

The original proposal, brought before the board two weeks ago, ran into trouble when Steiner suddenly pulled his support, saying that airport opponents were trying to create a “fatal flaw” in the airport project.

At the time, airport opponents demanded that the county never conduct an environmental impact report on the large plan. That would have caused legal problems for the county down the road, Steiner said.

This time, lawyers for both sides forged an agreement to make it impossible for another board to adopt the large airport plan unless a new and separate environmental analysis is prepared by the county.

With the Marines departing in July 1999, there would not be enough time to do that without significantly stalling the airport project.

“This should give South County some comfort that a future board cannot betray the intent of the current board,” Steiner said. “It just becomes a huge timing issue.”

The county has been planning for the airport for at least three years. The final plan and environmental impact report are not scheduled to be completed by fall 1999.

Last month, the board endorsed a moderate-sized airport that by 2020 could handle 25 million passengers a year.

“I think it’s now very clear that Alternative D is removed from the table, and that is what we were hoping would be accomplished,” said Paul Eckles, executive director of the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, a coalition of seven anti-airport cities.